Strengthening community resilience and capacity

Strengthening the interdependent institutions and systems of local, national, and international communities in the context of the natural and built environment in which they exist, thereby increasing their capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions to the systems that support thriving human populations.

Progress towards addressing this challenge will require cooperation at the intersection of the three pillars of population health (i.e., human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity) to develop inclusive, innovative, sustainable and ethical solutions. Despite progress made in many indicators in recent decades, challenges remain to maintaining and improving health in the rapidly changing world in which we live.

A few examples of challenges that must be addressed to continue and improve on the progress that has been made to strengthen community resilience and capacity are:

Strengthening civic engagement and governance through local political systems and government agencies

Supporting creative expressions that foster human culture

Creating well-designed policy and responsive legal frameworks

Promoting and demonstrating equitable and stable economic practices that support living wage work and health care coverage

Addressing systemic challenges to food and water insecurities

Planning for and adapting to challenges to community resilience, including extreme events from climate change (e.g., floods, drought), economic shocks, government failures or war

Preventing, detecting and responding to infectious diseases, and preparation for future disease threats arising from disruptions to ecological and social systems